madewithchicken
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Oct 6, 2008
- Messages
- 406
- Reaction score
- 4
So lately I have been making cider from apple juice concentrate. This tastes great and only costs about $20 per 5 gallon batch after yeast and sugar.
On my 3rd batch of this I added cinnamon (a lot of cinnamon) to some "herb balls" (big mesh balls for tea and stuff) and threw them in at the second fermentation after boiling them to sanitize them. This worked great.
So my most resent batch I just added the cinnamon at the primary without the herb balls. I think this was not a good idea. The cinnamon has formed a thick coat on top of the apple juice. There is little to no fermentation occurring.
It is not the yeast. I used the same yeast starter to do an I.I.P.A. and is fermenting explosively.
When i get home tonight I plan to skim off the cinnamon and add new yeast.
1920fairfax.com Hard Cider recipe (5 gallons on tap):
Ingredients:
18 - Cans of Apple Juice Frozen Concentrate (standard small ones)
1 - pack champagne yeast, I used Lalvin Wine Yeasts EC-1118 (I think it is best if you make a starter but I have not tested that)
2.5 tsps - potassium sorbate (I think that is the right amount)
some - sugar (Table sugar is fine. People say that table sugar gives your beer a cider taste, I am testing this at the moment, but this IS cider so it better have a cider taste.)
Directions:
1. Wipe down the outside of each can with bleach water and rinse with hot water so the inside loosens up and thaws a bit.
2. Poor in a can of apple juice concentrate into fermentation bucket.
3. Fill empty can with hot water from tap and poor that in. This helps to bring up the temp. and rises out the juice can.
4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 17 more times.
5. Fill bucket with water, the temp. is up to you but you need to get the temp. up to room temp. before adding the yeast.
6. Add yeast. (you can use a fancy cider yeast if you want.)
6. Let set for primary for 1 week and secondary for 1-4weeks.
7. Add Potassium Sorbate to kill off the yeast. (Do not do this if you want to bottle condition. If bottle conditioning skip to step '7a.')
8. Add sugar to taste. I think I added 3 cups or something for the one I was going to serve at a party. Also you can add some water if it is too strong for you. Mine came out to be about 6.5% alcohol which was good for me but some people thought the taste was a bit harsh without watering it down.
9. Force carbonate how ever you would like. We use 5 gallon cornelius kegs.
7a. If bottle conditioning only add normal priming sugar, around 3/4 cup, to a clean bucket. Siphon the cider to this bucket and stir. There is a lot of debate on how to sweeten this if you want. Lactose might be a good idea but so might artificial sweeteners. Both are often considered undesirable but some brewers. Because of this we recommend force carbonation.
8a. Add this to clean bottles and cap.
On my 3rd batch of this I added cinnamon (a lot of cinnamon) to some "herb balls" (big mesh balls for tea and stuff) and threw them in at the second fermentation after boiling them to sanitize them. This worked great.
So my most resent batch I just added the cinnamon at the primary without the herb balls. I think this was not a good idea. The cinnamon has formed a thick coat on top of the apple juice. There is little to no fermentation occurring.
It is not the yeast. I used the same yeast starter to do an I.I.P.A. and is fermenting explosively.
When i get home tonight I plan to skim off the cinnamon and add new yeast.
1920fairfax.com Hard Cider recipe (5 gallons on tap):
Ingredients:
18 - Cans of Apple Juice Frozen Concentrate (standard small ones)
1 - pack champagne yeast, I used Lalvin Wine Yeasts EC-1118 (I think it is best if you make a starter but I have not tested that)
2.5 tsps - potassium sorbate (I think that is the right amount)
some - sugar (Table sugar is fine. People say that table sugar gives your beer a cider taste, I am testing this at the moment, but this IS cider so it better have a cider taste.)
Directions:
1. Wipe down the outside of each can with bleach water and rinse with hot water so the inside loosens up and thaws a bit.
2. Poor in a can of apple juice concentrate into fermentation bucket.
3. Fill empty can with hot water from tap and poor that in. This helps to bring up the temp. and rises out the juice can.
4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 17 more times.
5. Fill bucket with water, the temp. is up to you but you need to get the temp. up to room temp. before adding the yeast.
6. Add yeast. (you can use a fancy cider yeast if you want.)
6. Let set for primary for 1 week and secondary for 1-4weeks.
7. Add Potassium Sorbate to kill off the yeast. (Do not do this if you want to bottle condition. If bottle conditioning skip to step '7a.')
8. Add sugar to taste. I think I added 3 cups or something for the one I was going to serve at a party. Also you can add some water if it is too strong for you. Mine came out to be about 6.5% alcohol which was good for me but some people thought the taste was a bit harsh without watering it down.
9. Force carbonate how ever you would like. We use 5 gallon cornelius kegs.
7a. If bottle conditioning only add normal priming sugar, around 3/4 cup, to a clean bucket. Siphon the cider to this bucket and stir. There is a lot of debate on how to sweeten this if you want. Lactose might be a good idea but so might artificial sweeteners. Both are often considered undesirable but some brewers. Because of this we recommend force carbonation.
8a. Add this to clean bottles and cap.